Take Action and Comment on Title IX by January 30th

The deadline to comment on changes to Title IX (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance) has been extended to January 30th. We are urging you to contact the U.S. Department of Education and submit comments; to learn more, please read on.

What is Title IX? Title IX protects students and employees of educational institutions from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Title IX states that:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

What is happening with Title IX right now? At the moment the Secretary of Education is proposing rule changes to Title IX, which you can read in detail here, but a great summary is here at 500 Women Scientists. They are currently taking comments – over 65,000 have currently been submitted – on the proposed rule changes.

One note is that it is very important to try not to use template comments, which may all be counted as one comment, but to try to make your comments and submissions as individual as possible, to ensure they are read.

In addition, please consider signing this petition to extend the deadline for comments. The confusion created by the Federal Shutdown, and the ability to ensure as many stakeholders are heard as possible, are both reasons to sign. Here is the link to sign: https://act.nwlc.org/onlineactions/xe2SGYU1Tk-wK5fIVeFRKw2.

Title IX has an important role to play in protecting early career researchers in academia. Just last week, FoR ED Gary McDowell was a co-author on a letter to Science, calling for the retraction of another letter, which was defending a researcher who resigned from UC Irvine after being found to have committed sexual harassment under a Title IX investigation. The letter suggested that a scientist’s research credentials should excuse poor behavior and is itself considered a retaliatory act under Title IX. Science has refused to retract the letter, while promising not to publish any more like it in the future.